State of the Position 2024: Inside Linebacker
Eugene Asante stood out last fall, but Auburn wasn't consistent down the middle. That needs to change with a deeper and more versatile unit.
This is Part 3 of an Auburn football 2024 season preview series that we’re calling “State of the Position.” It’s a breakdown of the past, present and future of each group on the Tigers’ roster as they look to end their streak of losing seasons and take a significant step forward this fall.
The goal is to run a pair of these each week. They’ll most likely be on Wednesday and Thursday mornings, but they could be moved around in case of any schedule conflicts. After starting with the passing offense, this week, we move on to the two sets of linebackers.
STATE OF THE POSITION: QB • WR
LB Eugene Asante (Zach Bland/Auburn Tigers)
The Past
Not too long ago, Auburn football was in a serious drought when it came to the inside linebacker position. Travis Williams was a first-team All-SEC selection when the Tigers went undefeated in 2004. Then, they went 14 years before getting another one — Deshaun Davis, who was coached by Williams himself.
Auburn followed that up with a first-team honor for K.J. Britt in the 2019 season. The program hasn’t had an All-SEC pick at the position since then, but the dog days there seem to be over. Zakoby McClain, Owen Pappoe and Chandler Wooten all played strong roles on good defenses in the time since Britt left for the NFL.
In 2023, under new management, that trend continued in the unlikely form of Eugene Asante. The story has been told plenty of times now, yet it’s worth repeating here: Asante transferred from North Carolina to Auburn under the previous staff, barely played, got moved to scout team… and then broke all the way out a year later.
Asante went from five snaps in 2022 to 491 in 2023. He led Auburn in tackles, by a gigantic margin, with 86 of them. He pretty much singlehandedly won the Week 2 game at Cal. He was arguably the best FBS inside linebacker at pass-rushing, and he recorded the most sacks for a Tiger at the position since Karlos Dansby. His energy, attitude and “WORK TIME!” catchphrase all made him a popular player in an instant.
But, as productive as Asante was for most of the 2023 campaign, he couldn’t do it alone. And Auburn struggled with consistency at inside linebacker, which had a significant impact on the defense as a whole.
Auburn finished the 2023 season at No. 85 in the country in rushing yards allowed per carry. The Tigers had surprisingly strong performances there against the likes of Georgia and Ole Miss, but they also gave up some massive yardage in losses to Texas A&M, LSU and New Mexico State. It was a roller-coaster season in terms of week-to-week output, and that lined up with what the Tigers had at the heart of their defense.
Ole Miss transfer Austin Keys, a true Mike linebacker to pair with the smaller and speedier Asante, suffered an injury early in the opener against UMass and missed the next five games. It took him a while to truly get going after the injury, and the Tigers didn’t see the best of him until November.
Auburn’s second-most inside linebacker snaps last season went to Larry Nixon III, a North Texas transfer. Nixon didn’t exactly make a smooth transition to the SEC, finishing with the team’s highest missed tackle rate among players with at least 200 snaps. He also struggled in coverage, and he was the Tigers’ lowest-rated defender in the eyes of Pro Football Focus.
The Tigers got better play out of veteran Cam Riley, but he was a better fit as an outside linebacker or even a true edge rusher than he was a Mike. Fellow veteran Wesley Steiner played fewer than 100 snaps on defense. (Both Riley and Steiner elected to enter the transfer portal after the 2023 season.) Former 4-star prospect Robert Woodyard Jr. only appeared in one game. (He stayed, though.)
Keys’ injury seemed to take a serious toll on a new-look Auburn defense, even with Asante racking up strong stat lines week after week. The Tigers’ defense put the team in a position to pull off wins over Georgia and Alabama at home, but they weren’t able to finish the deal in the fourth quarter.
Auburn had a decent amount of bend-don’t-break to it last season, finishing No. 44 nationally in scoring defense despite much worse finishes in total defense, passing defense and rushing defense. Still, the Tigers didn’t have the same amount of consistent punch that they had on that side of the ball for most of the last decade.
The 6-7 finish to the 2023 season prompted changes throughout the coaching staff, including the defense. Ron Roberts left for Florida after one year as defensive coordinator — and one that included some in-season friction among assistants. Inside linebackers coach Josh Aldridge moved to the edges, while Freeze hired now-SEC veteran defensive coordinator D.J. Durkin as his new top man on that side of the ball.
Inside linebackers have been Durkin’s specialty during his coaching career, and he’s been able to get a lot out of his players against the pass in that position. He’ll be tasked with getting more consistency out of the unit — and the defense as a whole.